Back in May of this year, the US Department of Commerce added Huawei to its so-called “Entity List”, effectively banning the company from buying components from American suppliers without government approval. However, the US started approving licenses for widely available products in July, allowing some companies to sell goods and services to the Chinese telecom giant.
This temporary reprieve was set to expire on Monday, but a new Reuters report suggests that the agreement will be extended for 90 days. The move is aimed at minimizing disruption for US firms that utilize Huawei equipment in their telecommunications networks, as well as firms that supply Huawei with electronic components such as CPUs, memory chips, and modems. In 2018, Huawei spent $70 billion purchasing components for its products, $11 billion of which went to US firms such as Intel, Qualcomm and Micron.
According to two sources familiar with the matter, the 90-day extension is not final and the situation could change during the weekend, when US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to discuss the matter in a call.
Huawei is still not allowed to buy US components to develop and manufacture new products and US firms need additional, special licenses to sell to the Chinese giant for that purpose. The Department of Commerce has received more than 50 such applications so far.